A California transgender woman is reportedly planning a civil lawsuit after allegedly being tased in the abdomen and in the genital area by officials.
As LGBT Weekly is reporting, Brooke Fantelli, who is apparently a well-known figure in the off-road racing community, was allegedly stopped by a ranger while in the midst of a photo shoot in the Imperial County desert.
Though the 43-year-old Fantelli had been living as a woman for some time, she had been told by her physician that she needed to live two full years as a female before she could change her California identification. Only when the ranger saw Brooke’s identification card did the hostile interaction begin, according to the report.
Fantelli said the ranger went from referring to her as "ma'am," "her," and "she" to “sir,” "him," and eventually "dude." She said she was eventually told by the ranger that she was being arrested for being drunk in public after consuming beer (Fantelli claims she had two and a half beers, the officer said she had four) before finally being subjected to the excessive force.
"He actually looked me straight in the eye and says, 'You used to be a guy,' and I said, 'Yes, I did.' There was no way around it. I could see it in his eyes. He wanted to do that," Fantelli, who is heard audibly screaming in the video, told San Diego's 10News last month. She went on to note, "It was obvious. He hated me."
Watch video of Fantelli's alleged interrogation below: